


Pokémon World: New Order

by NitroIndigo



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, ポケモンマスターズ | Pokemon Masters
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Ensemble Cast, Gen, Human Turned Pokemon, Mystery, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-12-01 21:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20908391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NitroIndigo/pseuds/NitroIndigo
Summary: The Pokémon Masters League on Pasio had to be cancelled for the most extraordinary reason: all of the trainers turned into Pokémon. (CANCELLED)





	Pokémon World: New Order

Gardenia awoke on the thin carpet of the Pokémon Centre. It must've been night, because the room was pitch black, but she could see many other Pokémon asleep on the floor, including her Roserade right next to her. Strangely, she'd never seen half of them on Pasio before, and there were no humans in sight. All of her muscles felt stiff, like she'd never used them before. Just  _ what _ had she been doing?

She tried to stand up, but rudely dragged back onto the floor by some invisible force; she quickly realised that she was tangled up in her own clothes. Her belt was loose, and her feet had burst out of her shoes. She tried to move her arms, but her shoulders rotated in a different way, and she couldn’t feel her fingers. It was then that Gardenia realised that her sleeves had been ripped open to reveal long, feathery wings. They must’ve been  _ hers _ , too, because they felt uncomfortably spread out. Thankfully, her poncho seemed to be intact.

Wanting to get a better look at her new self, she clumsily kicked the remains of her shoes off her feet and struggled to stand up. It felt like she was standing on the tips of her toes. She took a careful step forward… and almost tripped over when her shorts slid down her legs. She reflexively reached down to pull them up, but quickly remembered that she couldn’t. Her legs were much shorter now, and tipped with four claws each, two pointing forwards and two pointing backwards.

_ Where can I get a better look of myself… oh! Isn’t there a fountain in the plaza? _

Gardenia’s footsteps were slow and clumsy as she stumbled out of the Pokémon Centre, but she didn’t seem to wake anyone up. The night air beyond the sliding doors was chilly, but her new feathers insulated her from the cold. The moonlight dyed the entire plaza bright white, and the sound of rushing water was crystal-clear, a beacon in this eerie silence. She could pinpoint  _ exactly _ where the sound was coming from, and she was momentarily startled by the sounds of her talons clicking against the stone as she walked towards the fountain.

When Gardenia looked into the water, her heart froze. Looking back at her were two round eyes above a tiny, sharp beak, and shadowed by a hood made of leaves. So now she was a Decidueye, the final evolution of Rowlet, sometimes given away to beginning trainers in the Alola region, which meant...

“Oh my gosh! Am I… am I  _ dead _ ?” she exclaimed as her heart began to hammer in her chest. This  _ had _ to be a nightmare; there was no other explanation. To make matters worse, her voice sounded completely different; she clearly wasn’t saying human words anymore, but she still innately understood what they meant.

“Not necessarily,” a haughty, female voice she didn’t recognise said from behind her. Gardenia turned around to see several glowing rings that were almost as bright as the moon - an Umbreon, no doubt about it. It took Gardenia a moment to get over the fact that  _ a Pokémon was talking to her _ , but she supposed it made sense. “Ghost-type Pokémon aren’t always dead. They simply have a strong connection to the spiritual realm.”

“Okay. That’s… reassuring,” was all Gardenia could bring herself to say. She didn’t have a clue what any of that meant, but it made everything feel more… real.

“Trust me. I’ve trained a Gengar before,” said the Umbreon.

_ Wait, WHAT? _ “W-who are you, anyway?” asked Gardenia.

The Umbreon chuckled. “You may know be better as Karen of the Indigo League’s Elite Four, master of Dark-type Pokémon. Judging from the look on your face, I’m guessing that you’re a human, too.”

_ I thought Espeon was the Psychic one! _ “Y-yes. I’m Gardenia, remember me?” She paused. “Do you know why we’re Pokémon now? I just woke up like this a few minutes ago.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I awoke, much like you did, about an hour ago, and was drawn here by an instinctual longing for moonlight.” Karen took a shaky step forwards. Gardenia amused herself with the mental image of an Umbreon repeatedly falling.

_ Gosh, you’re pretentious. _ “Right…” Gardenia suddenly realised something. “What will our Pokémon think?”

“Why don’t you try asking them? I’ve always wondered what my Pokémon would say to me. Haven’t you?”

“I would, but… she’s asleep right now. I think I’ll head back to the Pokémon Center.”

“Alright, but if you want to talk to me again, I’ll be around,” Karen said before turning away, her rings still blindingly bright.

Gardenia didn’t head back to the Pokémon Centre straight away. Instead, she sat on the edge of the fountain - a pose a Decidueye’s body  _ probably _ wasn’t designed for - and thought about her role as a gym leader. A large part of training was about fairness - knowing your Pokémon’s strengths and limits, and knowing when to hold back on your opponent - but did  _ they _ think it was fair? Now that she was a Pokémon, the idea of being a trainer just felt wrong.

* * *

When she woke up early in the morning, Roserade was alarmed to see a torn-up, black shirt and split shoes where Gardenia had been. She was baffled by what could have happened overnight - her mind raced with the worrying possibility that someone had killed her overnight, but that could  _ not _ be the case. There was no sign of blood - or the rest of her clothes, for that matter - and Roserade could never sleep through something like  _ that _ ! The only clue was several lines of parallel scratch marks leading to the door.

That was not the only strange thing. Roserade clearly remembered being in this exact spot yesterday, but had no recollection of falling asleep. A place like this was much too uncomfortable, and her arms already ached. Knowing that she needed the morning sunlight anyway, she followed the scratch marks outside.

She was even  _ more _ alarmed to discover that there were even  _ more _ piles of clothes throughout the Pokémon Centre, but the humans that wore them had vanished. Two pairs of ears - two red, two blue - peeked out above a pair of dark blue jackets. A spherical shape was underneath a white and red minidress. A greyish-blue, diamond-shaped tail was curled around a pair of socks with blue and white stripes. A Simipour, Simisear, and Simisage were slumped over the three desks. What was going on?

The air outside was cool and crisp, and the last orange streaks of dawn were starting to disappear. The cobblestones were marked with those same scratches, and they lead towards the fountain, which a figure wearing a green poncho and orange shorts was walking away from - undoubtedly Gardenia! Roserade excitedly ran towards her… until she realised it was a Decidueye. As it got closer, she noticed that it had no marks from battle, no feathers out of place, none of the general wear and tear that comes from years of life… if she did not know better, she would have thought that it had just come out of the egg. Who was it, and why was it wearing her trainer’s clothes?

“Roserade! Oh, am I glad to see you!” the Decidueye exclaimed. Her voice was completely unfamiliar, but her choice of words and inflection were not. Could she be…?

“Who are you?” Roserade asked bluntly.

“I know this sounds hard to believe, but I’m Gardenia,” the Decidueye said. “I don’t know why I’m a Pokémon either. I just woke up like this, and so did Karen. Is anyone else awake yet?”

This was a lot for Roserade to take in at once. “Only me, as far as I am aware.”

“I didn’t know you were so formal,” the Deci- Gardenia replied.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, it’s just…” Gardenia sighed. “I’ve known you for all these years, yet I’ve never actually had a conversation with you before. Tell me - and be honest - what does being a trained Pokémon feel like?”

Roserade looked at the sky longingly. “When I was a Budew living in Eterna Forest, I felt like a weakling. I was constantly hiding - from Beautifly during the day, and Dustox at night. All I wanted was to survive, but I struggled to defend myself. One day, I made a decision: I was going to seek out a trainer, and stay with them until I was able to evolve into a Roselia. Then I met you, and I guess I just forgot about going back…”

“So I ruined your life goals? I’m sorry…”

“No! Don’t take it that way! I enjoyed being with you so much that I must have subconsciously changed my mind. I never want to have to leave you, not after everything the two of us have been through.” Still… now Roserade was wondering what Eterna Forest was like now. Maybe she  _ should _ return one day…

Gardenia sighed again. “That’s a relief. Now, is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

“Are you aware that your shorts have fallen down?”

“I know!” exclaimed Gardenia, embarrassed. “It’s not my fault I don’t have hands any more!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd really appreciate suggestions for which Pokémon characters should become. You can see an incomplete list here: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/866745


End file.
